Stoeger Cougar 8000 Project

**Devrbd** · October 24th, 2010, 06:00 PM

Love the gun, but there were a few things (aesthetically & functionally) that I felt needed to be changed. Mainly the black controls on a silver gun.

Hard chromed the trigger, trigger pin, ejector, right and left safety wings, slide catch, take down lever and take down button. Forgot to send out the hammer spring cup, so that will be replaced with an Inox part.

Swapped the standard hammer with a 92 Elite skeleton hammer.

Swapped the mag release button with a 92 Inox button.

Grips were switched to Hogue Coco Bolo. 20+ coats of Tru-oil and around 6 coats of Birchwood Casey Wax. They are "seconds" from their auction site for $20. Also added Hogue silver hex screws.

Converted from an F model to a G model by turning the safety/de-cocker to de-cocker only.

Original sights were silver with red dots, which I had a hard time picking up visually. Eventually they'll be switched to night sights. For the time being they are painted (Testors model paint) black with white dots.

It passed the initial "pencil test" at home. Had it to the range this weekend and functioned flawlessly. I'm very happy and kept the cost around $100. Well below the total cost of a used Beretta Cougar Inox.

BEFORE:

AFTER:

**cruzans** · October 24th, 2010, 06:07 PM

Nice job, looks great ! Pardon my ignorance, but what is the "pencil test" ?
Thanks ! Gives me some ideas for starting some projects of my own

**Devrbd** · October 24th, 2010, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by cruzans

Pardon my ignorance, but what is the "pencil test" ?

Thanks! I just learned what the pencil test is, too. First make sure the it's unloaded, of course. Stick a #2 pencil, eraser side first down the barrel and pull the trigger. Pencil should come out. Just a way to test the firing pin and de-cocker before I went to the range.

**cruzans** · October 24th, 2010, 06:32 PM

Originally Posted by Devrbd

Thanks! I just learned what the pencil test is, too. First make sure the it's unloaded, of course. Stick a #2 pencil, eraser side first down the barrel and pull the trigger. Pencil should come out. Just a way to test the firing pin and de-cocker before I went to the range.

That makes sense - thanks ! Where did you have the parts done - any ballpark on cost to just do that work ? Thanks again

**Devrbd** · October 24th, 2010, 06:39 PM

Originally Posted by cruzans

That makes sense - thanks ! Where did you have the parts done - any ballpark on cost to just do that work ? Thanks again

Parts were done by Accurate Plating for $50 plus shipping. They're hard chromed with a matte finish. Took about 4 weeks.

http://www.apwcogan.com/

**Rex Havoc** · October 24th, 2010, 06:59 PM

Looks great. Thanks for posting. I'm hoping to pick up mine in a trade in about 2 weeks. Not sure it's ready to become a project, just got a P6 and Kimber Classic plus a rifle... But after seeing yours, it may jump to the front!

**photoshooter** · October 24th, 2010, 09:19 PM

Great job, it's all in the little details.
I'm a Cougar fan too and have a project gun on standby.

**CHEMICAL** · October 24th, 2010, 09:31 PM

Beautiful!

**Devrbd** · October 25th, 2010, 12:06 PM

Thanks for the comments!

I gotta say there was a point when i looked at a table full of parts, springs and pins and said "what the f*** did I just do?". Once or twice I was on the floor searching for a spring or tiny plunger that accidentally shot out. But it's a fairly simple project with your gun's armorers manual, a punch set and hammer.